April 13 – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that World Cup host cities need to step up to protect players and fans during the 2026 tournament.
The rights organisation points to a lack of ‘Human Rights Action Plans’ from World Cup host city committees to underline a lack of protections in fans and players will be faced with when the football extravaganza kicks off in the United States, Mexico and Canada in June.
It said that just one host city committee had presented action plans required by FIFA. Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver have gone as far as publishing their plans.
“Despite years to prepare, the spectre of immigration enforcement at FIFA events, and emerging threats to media freedom, host committees have failed to deliver coherent plans for the world’s largest sporting event,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “FIFA and these cities need to act immediately to strengthen human rights protections or risk a tournament defined by exclusion and fear.”
These finals were the first to include a broad human rights strategy in its tender documents, and as a fundamental part of the bidding process that host bidding cities had to comply with before being awarded rights.
In the United States, which will stage 78 out of the tournament’s 104 matches, civil rights have been under pressure under the administration of President Donald Trump. Human Rights Watched pointed to the deployment of ICE, who have announced they will be present at World Cup Stadiums this summer, and the rights of the LGBT+ community.
Even Miami, where FIFA has a major hub, has not released a human rights action plan.
“Miami and other host cities should fulfill their responsibility to protect fans, workers, and athletes and put in place the rights protections we need to make the World Cup a success, not only in soccer but in human rights,” said Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, policy coordinator at American Friends Service Committee Florida.
HRW has previously written to FIFA about ICE activities at World Cup events and the need to protect journalists. Human Rights Watch demands “concrete steps” be taken in the weeks remaining before kickoff, including the actual implementation of human rights action plans.
“Since awarding Trump the ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ in December, FIFA has gone silent on every concrete human rights promise it said it would stand up for,” said Worden.
“The irony is that FIFA is still expecting ‘Human Rights Action Plans’ when the organization itself has taken no public action to address key risks and uphold the full spectrum of human rights at the world’s largest sporting event.”
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